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Pompons!

I finished Amanda’s socks, and they are cute and silly and I’m sure she’ll love them!

Yarn: Lang Jawoll in Gray and Pink (too lazy to look up the color numbers) purchased from Black Sheep Wool Company.

Needles: US Size 1, 7″ cClover bamboo dpns.

Pattern: None… Basic slipped stitch heel flap, I knitted them both at the same time so I wouldn’t have to write a pattern down.

Verdict: Very cute. And my favorite part is the pompons. They were a lot of fun to make even if I did make a mess on my couch with all the little clippings.

I’m getting close to done with the hat for the St. Vincent dePaul center, but there’s been more of everything EXCEPT knitting lately. I’m excited for the weekend because I will likely finish my final Christmas present. The ones that need to be purchased are purchased and I even have the wrapping paper! *does a happy dance*

And I’ve been tagged by Judy!

“THE RULES:Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”

1) I prefer water to any other drink, including tea.

2) I can eat twice as much as most people I know… I just usually try to tone it down so I avoid sickness and fatness.

3) I used to steal my siblings’ stuff and give it back to them as Christmas/Birthday presents. In my mind this was ok and in fact, good because you knew they liked it.

4) I hate writing cursive and the only semi-cursive I write is my signature, but it looks more like scribbles than letters.

5) When I was a kid, I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on TV. After that I started using the toilet as quickly as possible, then I’d jump off, shut the lid, flush and RUN! I thought that if Turtles and giant Martial Artists rats could live in the sewers, then anything living down there could come up through the pipes.

6) I love metal rulers… part of it is the idea that I could beat people’s hands with them ala Catholic nuns at an all girls school.

Not gonna tag anyone, but if you want it, yoink it and leave a comment so I can see your answers.

M

Posted 15 December 2006 † Mim § Knitting § Memes § My FO's § Totally Random ‡ Comments (2) °

Shawl Kits available through The Knitting Hutch

Jackie at the Knitting Hutch has put together kits for the Icarus Shawl and the Hidcote Garden Shawl!  The kit includes the pattern in hard copy and your choice of lovely yarns; Claudia Handpaints Mohair or Silk Lace in your choice of colors.  I think the shawls would be beautiful in either of these yarns!  Go have a look!

My knitting is slow but steady.  I’ve got the gray and pink socks all but done (just have to add the pompons and weave in the last few ends).  I’ve started a hat for our drive at work to help St. Vincent de Paul Center who gives them to homeless and needy people in the Salt Lake area.  I’ll show them to you tomorrow when the socks are done.

Its been a pretty stress filled week.  Tomorrow the website I’ve been working on goes live, and although I had planned to take a half day off today or tomorrow it’s not looking possible.  It was blessedly warm this morning, which was good because I missed one train and had to wait for the next in a knee-length skirt and bare legs, but all in all, I’m ok and really much better off than most people.  If the worst I have to worry about is being 10 min. late for work because I had to catch a later train, then my worries are minimal.

I’m feeling the pull of lace.  Lots of intricate lace.  Hopefully I’ll get the yarn for my contract pieces quickly so I don’t have to start something else and abandon it when the contract yarn does arrive.

M

Posted 14 December 2006 † Mim § Designing § Knitting § Web Design ‡ Comments (2) °

TNNA MEMBER! Woot!

I’m an approved member of TNNA complete with a membership number! *dances* And I’ve paid for classes and all is well. I’ve got a plane ticket and my grandmother is expecting me for those days. So I’m going to the TNNA trade show in January. Anyone else going?

M

*eta*  Sorry… typo… I AM an approved member…. I was typing quickly 🙂

Posted 13 December 2006 † Mim § Designing ‡ Comments (5) °

FO, almost FO and spun fluff!

The FO (hat):

Pattern: Susan‘s Live Dangerously, Don’t Swatch hat with a k3p1 rib and an attached I-cord bind-off. You can glean the pattern for free from her November Archives, or she’s now got it as a pdf for $3.00.
Yarn: Plymoth Galway Worsted Wool (not sure what color any more)
Needles: Size 6 Brittany Birch dpns.
Verdict: I love this pattern. It’s exactly the kind of mindless non-worry knitting that I needed (and occasionally crave), and the hat is great! It’s a gift for my sister’s husband for Christmas. I think he’ll like it 😀

The socks are just about done. I only need a couple more rows and then toes.

And the spinning? Lovely yarn 😀 It’s the Alpaca/Hank Fluff that I told you about yesterday.

M

Posted 12 December 2006 † Mim § Knitting § My FO's § Spinning ‡ Comments (2) °

Argh… Monday!



I seem to have a hard time getting it together to post on Mondays. I’ve been working like a fiend on the website for work, hoping that I can get it done BEFORE my end-of-the-week deadline so that I can take a half day on Friday or Thursday, or something… I just want a bit of relaxation that doesn’t take place in the dark, and with the winter solstice *checks above* 10 days away, the chances of that are fairly slim if I don’t take some time off from work.My back is hurting (more than usual) and all my muscles seem to be protesting something, but I’m not sure what… maybe the cold… maybe the back pain… maybe the absence of the sun.

I had a pretty productive fiber weekend, but I don’t have any pictures yet, so later this week, I promise. I knit a hat for my sister’s husband for Christmas — how did I forget how quickly hats knit up! — and I ripped back the heels on the pink and gray anklets and re-knit the heels with matching stitch counts (DOH!) and a flap instead of short rows… they just weren’t working with the short rows. Now I’ve finished the foot of the first one and I’m knitting the foot of the second one and will start the toes when I’m done with the feet.

I started spinning some of the Alpaca and Hank fluff that Anne gave to me, because I found that I DID have a little spindle (.4 oz). I got it in trade from Isela. Isela, if you are reading this, the reason you couldn’t get the hang of spinning on this spindle was so totally not you. This spindle rather sucks. It’s not balanced very well and it wobbles like a one legged man on a ridge pole. Of course, being the obsessive person I am, I fought it anyway. I’ve got about 100 feet of a laceweight alpaca-hank 2-ply done and another spindle full just waiting to be plied. And even though I don’t particularly like the idea of fighting this spindle, I know I’ll end up using it to spin the rest of the small amount of fiber I have. Sometimes I wonder if I’m not a masochist.
M

Lauren finished her Seraphim shawl in her own HANDSPUN alpaca! Congrats Lauren! What an accomplishment!

Posted 11 December 2006 † Mim § Knitting § Others FO's § Web Design ‡ Comments (6) °

That Crazy Brigham Young.

So I was checking out the new Winter Knitty and thought this Binary scarf by Christine Dumoulin was totally geeky, therefore I loved it. But I was reading through the pattern and noticed that she suggests that you could knit up a message in Unicode with a link to this page which contains charts of various Unicode characters including Latin, Greek, Runic, and various languages (alive and dead) from around the world! How cool! I looked under American Scripts and laughed when I saw “Deseret” listed there.


image from Wikipedia
For someone unfamiliar with Utah history this may not make any sense, so I will explain a bit. Brigham Young, the second leader of the Mormon Church lead the members to the Salt Lake Valley to escape religious persecution in Missouri. He tried to established the “State of Deseret” in what was then Mexican Territory, “deseret” being the name for honeybees in the Book of Mormon. The idea was to create a separate country that would be ruled and settled by Mormons, with a government recognized by the US government where Mormons could live untouched. As part of this desired autonomy, Brigham Young came up with the “Deseret Alpahabet” which is spoken like English, but it written more phoenetically. It didn’t really take though, and only 4 books were printed in the deseret alpahabet, the Book of Mormon among them.

I used to work in Special Collections & Archives at Utah State University and I’ve seen a copy of the Deseret Book of Mormon. It’s quite strange, really. Another little quirky bit of Utah and US History.

Have a good weekend!

Posted 08 December 2006 † Mim § History § Knitting ‡ Comments (10) °

10 Things for Thursday

I’m totally yoinking this format from Dis. Hope you don’t mind!

1. We ate out with my parents last night at Rodizio Grill. Holy crap! This is a fabulous place! The food was excellent and the service was great. I managed to pack away more food than the any one else. This is typical and I find it very amusing. I bet my mother thinks I have a hollow leg. Thanks for dinner Mom & Dad!
2. I am getting organized.. I’ve been taking this time when I’m knitting boring but necessary things and reading a bit and getting my studio space sorted out. I assembled a bookshelf this morning (at 2 am when I could no longer sleep) and tonight I’ll put my knitting and designing books on it and move the yarn that is advancing into the living room up to the bookshelf. That way my inspiration is all in one place, where I can sit and work and draw things.

3. I am knitting!

Slowly because my hands and arms have been hurting a bit because of extra typing and coding at work. So even though it has been 3 days since I finished the last pair of socks, this is all I have. Luckily they’re anklets, so they won’t take so long. My friend Amanda requested gray and pink anklets with pompoms, and I live to deliver 😉

4. At this time of year we should all be edumacated on how to correctly open a present. Link via ZenKnit.

5. I’ve got to spend some time building my webpage and it will have a shops page that list shops that carry my patterns, but for now, know that HipKnits will be carrying them in the future, as will The Knitting Hutch. And kpixie has the Woven Cable Scarf & Wrap for sale as well.

6. While at the library (where I found this amazing book (knitted historical costumes for knitted dolls! I’m in heaven!) I saw this display.

It’s the same monkey that I knit back in February of ’05 (that one named Lucius), but this one is Green! I love it. It was part of a display in the arts section with knitting (you can see the other display with balls of yarn in the upper left of this photo. Just more proof that knitters are TAKING OVER THE WORLD!

7. Last weekend we saw The Fountain. I loved it and thought it was both visually and spiritually beautiful. I cried, even though there was a man snoring 2 rows in front of us. It reduced the whole theatre to giggles when it was a very serious part punctuated by a loud snort. It reminded C and I of the writing of Roger Zelazny (I’m reading Lord of Light right now and am almost done. It’s fabulous!)

8. There’s still another week in the sale if you want to use the discount code.

9.


10. Morgana has finished her Icarus shawl! It’s lovely! It’s not only her first shawl, it’s her first LACE project! Congratulations for tackling something so large as your first!

Posted 07 December 2006 † Mim § Designing § Knitting § Others FO's § Reading § Sale ‡ Comments (10) °

Plea for help!

In hopes of still making it to TNNA in January, I am now filling out my application (doh!).  Are there any retail or wholesale TNNA members out there who would be willing to write me a letter of introduction?

Miriam

Posted 05 December 2006 † Mim § Knitting ‡ Comments (3) °

Weekend Report and FO

For navel gazing, click on the cut. For the knitting content, here you go:

Apologies for the crap photo… not a lot of light yet. Plus Dark Gray socks are notoriously hard to photograph. Anyway, these are Gift socks for a good friend. He has proven himself a worthy recipient of handknits (one half of the last pair I made for him was lost and he wore the remaining sock by itself for about a year (and through 3 moves) before finding its mate in a box. Now THAT’s love of handknit socks!). As you can see, I just have a few more stitches to bind off and the ends to weave in.I also finished spinning the biffle, but it looks the same as the last pictures of it, just more strands, so I won’t bother with that.

Thanks everyone who’s purchased patterns during the sale! I love seeing people knit my patterns! Speaking of which….

Check out Kathryn‘s largest Icarus in history! That is the largest one I’ve ever heard of Kathryn, so I think you are right! 😀 Continue Reading »

Posted 05 December 2006 † Mim § Acquisitions § Designing § Knitting § Navel Gazing § Spinning ‡ Comments (12) °

Icarus Shawl pattern Available! and SALE!

A few of housecleaning bits:

  1. Thought you all might like to know, that the Icarus Shawl pattern is FINALLY available as a download! You can find more information here as it is now in the shop. The link has also been added to the sidebar under “Design Portfolio”. I understand that issue of Interweave has become harder to get a copy of, so I thought I’d better get it out sooner rather than later.
  2. I’m all set to start selling paper patterns to yarn stores, so if you have a yarn store near you that you think would like to carry them, please send me an e-mail with their contact info. I’ll be making up brochures to send out.

As you can see from the ticker, winter is dragging on. I keep thinking to the new beginnings of spring, but they seem so far away. So I’ve been thinking about January and New Years. Not only is it Cara‘s birthday (go give her some love, she could use it), but it’s the start of a new year, and with the New Year should come new beginnings, no?

So in honor of the new year and the promise it brings, I’m having a sale. From now until the 15th of December, you can get 10% off all the patterns in my store except the new Woven Cable Scarf & Wrap. To help ward off the January Blues, buy something nice for yourself and start it on January 1st to make yourself happy 🙂 Click through to the store (link also in the sidebar with the 4-square logo) Enter the code JANBLUES in the discount box during checkout and get the 10% discount.

Thanks for the lovely response to the Woven Cable Scarf & Wrap 🙂 It was a lot of fun to knit, even though it has a lot of ribbing.

I’ve filled another spindle full of the BFL! Probably another one, plus maybe a partial and I’ll be done with it! Then on to knitting SOCKS! I can’t tell you how excited I am to be knitting something with my own handspun!

And the book proposals have been accepted, so as soon as I get yarn, I’ll be working on those. It might make for very sketchy photos of WIPs, but I’ll try to keep things interesting here.

Have a great weekend!

M

p.s. Go give Margene some love too. Her lovely dog Murphy has passed on. I know she’ll miss him. He was sick though, so at least now he’s not suffering.

  • DO NOT MISS Claudia‘s finished Icarus all blocked and lovely! I think I may have to get some of that Sundara-dyed silk! What a fabulous birthday present to herself!
  • Elizabeth finished her Icarus as well! And get this, she SPUN that yarn herself!

Posted 01 December 2006 † Mim § Designing § Knitting § Others FO's § Sale § Spinning ‡ Comments (12) °